spring 2010

UI Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Iowa Bibliophiles will have a one day seminars, contact for dates:

“A History of Hand-Held Reading Devices”

This entertaining session will consider the long past and future history of all kinds of hand-held reading devices. We will begin in the era of the papyrus book, look at the codex innovations of the medieval era, see surprising 20th century book inventions and adventure in the current technologies of print-on-demand and self-published books. To continue the fun we will sample many electronic book readers from the UI Libraries’ collection. Our tour guide will be Gary Frost, Conservator of the Libraries. Gary will demonstrate many of the historical bookbinding models from the UIL Collections. Join us for an inspiring vista of the history of book binding and book devices.

fall 2010

“Future of the Book Seminar”

Curriculum/Syllabus

Fall, 2010, August 31 to October 5, Tuesday sessions, 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm

This seminar will investigate the future of the print book in a context of its digital delivery. Wide redefinition is in progress in fields as diverse as neurology of reading, digital preservation, e-book marketing, and technology of print on demand. Discussion extends from standards and certification of print originals to blog rants on the death of the book, electronic format competitions and favorite reading devices. Over arching this dynamic is the canonic role of the physical book and its imprint on the future of cultural transmission.

Students will survey issues and experience distinctive affordances of the paper and screen book. The sessions will include visiting specialist lectures as well as student presentations. This seminar will be of interest to those in book studies, communication studies and library and information studies. A one hour credit is offered for the six sessions.

Session 1. NATURE OF BOOKS – affordances and roles of print
interdependence of print and screen – affordances of print; legibility, navigation, persistence, attributes of authentication, affordances of screen; self-indexing, live link, search, discovery
disadvantages & costs – storage/display, digital preservation, wrong format
readings & research: Drucker, Johanna, “The Virtual Codex from Page Space to E-Space”, Companion to Digital Literary Studies,

Session 2. MAKING OF BOOKS – digital imaging and printing
imaging – scale and scope of capture, book scanners, QC & certification of capture
printing – papers, electrostatic printing technology, print-on-demand industry self publication – genres, services, standards
readings & research: Expresso Machine, “Certification of Portico and HathiTrust”

Session 3. READING OF BOOKS – reading habitats and book devices
behaviors – taxonomy of literacies, neurology, haptics, leisure & convenience
devices – book mimicry, comparative reading devices for e-books, sales & marketing
inventions – libraries, keyboard, automation, wireless connectivity
readings & research: Johns’ Introduction to Ong, Ramus, field use e-book readers, lurking at Teleread and other blogs, Mangen, Anne, “Haptics and Immersion”, Journal of Research in Reading,

Session 4. MEDIATION OF BOOKS – cultural/corporate stakeholders
book producer – authors, publishers, editors, manufacturers
book delivery – utility providers (i.e.Google, Amazon), retailers (i.e.Barnes & Noble), libraries, copyright holders, national vs. corporate literatures (i.e. France and Google) blog environment, legislative and legal imperative, media, book clubs
book curator – research library and print, scholarly publication and print, public library and print
readings & research: Darnton, Robert, “Google and the Future of Books”, New York Review of Books, Google settlement bibliography, Deegan, Marilyn and Sutherland, Katherine, Transferred Illusions – Digital Technology and the Forms of Print, (chapter)

Session 5. emergent issues, up-dates and discussion of topics for presentation:

Session 6. student presentations:

Moderator for the Seminar is Gary Frost of futureofthebook.com. He is an instructor in book art and book conservation. Previously on Faculty of library schools at Columbia University and the University of Texas, he is currently Conservator of Libraries at the University of Iowa.
01.06.10/glf

Instructor, Gary Frost, 319-335-5908,
gary-frost@uiowa.edu

fall 2011

“Historical Printing: a seminar on letterpress transmission”

This one hour credit seminar course will introduce environments and experience of historical letterpress production. Sessions will provide practitioner lectures and extensive field experience. This seminar will be of interest to students in communications studies, media and book studies, social history studies and museum interpretation and education.

Field study sites include Iowa City letterpress studios, the Print Shop and Bindery in the Amana Colonies, the Iowa River Landing Print Shop at the Johnson County Historical Society Museum, the Linotype Museum in Denmark Iowa and the historical printing studio of the University of Iowa Center for the Book.

Students will engage in skilled operations, individual research and class demonstrations. Explorative discussion will consider contexts of historical print production as pre-cursive to contemporary communications and digital publication. The class will explore communalities between present and past technologies such as the keyboard automation, image quality and delivery systems and technological transition.

The seminar will be scheduled for six Saturdays across the semester. Fieldwork travel time is required. For registration code contact Gary Frost, <gary-frost@uiowa.edu>

Linotype University, late September, 2010

Workshops at Linotype University, Denmark, Iowa; contact Larry Raid, <larryjraid@lisco.com> or
Linotype University

Structure and Action in Codex Binding (not currently scheduled)

Physical books have elegance not only as artifacts, but also as exemplars of legibility, of easy and non-damaging navigation and mobile action. Historical structures easily produce page displays and gracefully respond to reading manipulations. How do they perform so well or not so well?

This session will provide analysis and evaluation of the functional
mobility of the codex structure. Basic design issues of materials selection, mobility inhibitions, and the nature of analog access will be discussed. A taxonomy of prototypes, spanning mechanical structures and historical contexts, will be defined and studied. Attributes of each type will be considered in context of exhibition, imaging, reading, portability, durability and kinetic appeal.

This systematic evaluation of foundational codex structures will help resolve design issues for book conservation practice. Guidelines for endpaper and cover to text attachment will be suggested. Attributes and deficiencies ranging from the design traits of papyrus bookbinding to constraints of print-on-demand binding will be demonstrated and discussed. Students will present and resolve structural problems in their own practice. An array of publications and support opportunities will be suggested.

*** July, 2010, OldWays Homestead, Santa Idaho
Timeless Tech

(stay tuned)

Instructor for the Workshops

Gary Frost is an educator in book art and book conservation. He has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia University in New York and the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently the Conservator for the Libraries at the University of Iowa.